Telecommunication network planners often need to know how much bandwidth is available between selected points for capacity planning purposes.
Telecommunications Operations personnel need to determine which timeslots to use for interconnecting a particular type of signal circuit between two end points.
There are some known methods for circuit planning and circuit set-up. For example, a Trunk Integrated Record Keeping System (TIRKS.RTM.) has a method of finding bandwidth and finding timeslots for circuits. This method is explained in an article appearing in an IEEE GLOBECOM publication entitled "SONET Add/Drop Multiplex Equipment Administration Using the TIRKS.RTM. Provisioning System" by Dianne E. Bailey.
However, this known method does not take full advantage of the cross-connect capabilities of today's network elements. Although it alludes to a future development in which the TIRKS.RTM. system will be able to automatically rearrange time-slot assignments to optimize utilization of the SONET carrier system, no detailed teachings are provided.